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CHEM 1810 Principles of Chemical Structure (Accelerated)
Last taught: Fall 2026 Add to Schedule
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Review Summary Updated April 05, 2026

This course is intensely conceptual and moves significantly faster than standard high school prerequisites, making it a solid choice only if you genuinely want to pursue chemistry. The outside workload is surprisingly light, and despite notoriously low raw exam averages, the grading is extremely forgiving thanks to completion-based assignments, half-credit test corrections, and a heavy end-of-term curve. The lectures are rapid and note-heavy, demanding your complete focus and requiring you to aggressively use practice exams, old lectures, and office hours to stay on track. Come in with AP or IB chemistry experience and a willingness to engage with the material, and you will likely thrive; take it just for resume padding or honors, and the steep conceptual learning curve will quickly drain your GPA.

60 Reviews

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Fall 2013
4.7
Average

Dr. Harmon is hands down the best chemistry professor there is! The class is extremely difficult when you first started. I got an A+ in the class but the first day was really confusing. It gets better, though, as the class goes on.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 13.0
Fall 2012
4.7
Average

Harman is an amazing teacher! Just don't do what I did and think that because I aced the first two midterms, I would do okay on the final and get a good grade in the class. My poor final grade really hurt my course grade, but I still loved the class.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 11.0
Fall 2013
4.3
Average

Harman is a great professor and does a great job of making the class interesting and fun. He handles questions and hard concepts very well. Some material pretty hard to grasp but he does his best to make sure that everyone understands it. This is a good class to take to figure out whether or not chemistry is for you. With test corrections it's hard to actually do poorly in the class.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 4.0
Difficulty 3.0
Hours/Week 1.0
Fall 2013
5.0
Average

I am only a first year but this was one of my favorite classes at UVA. Professor Harman is fantastic, possibly one of the best at UVA. Not only is he brilliant but he makes the material fun and enjoyable. The class isn't easy but it is easy to do well in, put in the time out of the class doing the readings/watching the videos, go to discussion to do problem sets with a group, and go to the review session he has before the exam and you will do fine. If you are on the fence between 1410 and 1810, challenge yourself and take 1810 with Harman, you won't regret it.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 5.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 5.0
Fall 2012
3.3
Average

As a class on its own I would say it is hard but enjoyable and you would learn a lot. HOWEVER, the 800 series will be the end to your GPA, your social life, and possibly your happiness. Once upon a time the Chem department said "Hey wouldn't it be cool if there was an advanced track in Chemistry?" Without really having a plan... the end result is that random professors end up teaching whatever they feel like with whatever arbitrary expectations on the basis that the class is "advanced". And once you find out you're in over your head, it's too late- the sequence of classes and the prospect of med schools asking why you switched out makes it near impossible to go back to the 400 series...
tl;dr This class is good but it brings nothing but suffering afterwards! Not worth it!

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 1.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 0.0
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Fall 2010
4.0
Average

Professor Harman will gladly guide you through the course when you work hard for it enough such as going to the office hours. Tests are hard and the fact that there are only three tests are bit overwhelming at first. However, he does gives you a chance to recover. You will definitely enjoy this class if you enjoy chemistry.

Instructor 4.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 4.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 7.0
Fall 2009
4.3
Average

if you're interested in chemistry, i recommend this course. the material isn't easy but the professor and the tas are quite helpful. they really like the subject and want you to too.

Instructor 4.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 7.0
Fall 2009
5.0
Average

Professor Harman is extremely enthusiastic about what he teaches, and he is very adept in drawing analogies toward chemical terms that are normally incomprehensible. His tests are hard but the letter cutoffs are quite generous.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 5.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 8.0
Fall 2009
4.7
Average

W. Dean Harman is a fantastic teacher. He is very nice, calm, and clear in his lectures. The material can be pretty difficult, but with his help you'll get through (go to office hours). The main drawback about taking this class is that the next semester you'll be taking from...dun dun dunnnn...Sundberg, who is absolutely terrible.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 4.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 6.0
Fall 2009
5.0
Average

I was a little apprehensive about taking the 80 series, as my high school chemistry background was extremely weak compared to my peers <cough>TJ kids<cough>. However, Professor Harman teaches in such a way that he makes the enormous amount of information to be learned seem easy and effortless to grasp. I would recommend him 100%.

One final note: he's a little TOO nice when it comes to answering questions, so if you have a few brownnosers in your class asking inane, pointless questions, well... you may need to do some reading on your own, because he will answer EVERY question at the expense of the lecture.

Instructor 5.0
Enjoyability 5.0
Recommend 5.0
Difficulty 4.0
Hours/Week 5.0
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